Import Tariffs

Côte d’Ivoire has a tariff structure composed of two basic customs charges: (1) a fiscal duty and (2) a customs duty. The maximum combined rate is 35 percent. There is also a statistical tax of 2.6 percent paid on all declarations, a single rate of value added tax (VAT) of 18 percent (2003 law of Finance), special compensatory levies on meat and poultry imports and specific excise taxes on tobacco products and alcoholic beverages. Most of the duties are based on ad valorem rates, which are imposed on the current export price from the country of sale or origin and any shipping and insurance expenses incurred. (C.I.F.) The method of value assessment in use is based on the Brussels Definition of Value (BDV).

Cote d’Ivoire is a member of the West African Monetary Union as along with Burkina Faso, Benin, Guinea Bissau, Mali, Niger, Togo, and Senegal. The customs guidelines are the same for all WAEMU member states. All third countries pay duty and tax on products whatever their point of entry based upon the Common External tariff “CET” schedule.

The Common External Tariff Schedule (listed below) provides permanent and temporary duties and taxes:

A. Permanent customs duty and taxes

Category Duties Products
0 0% A limited list of essential social goods (books and drugs)
1 5% Convenience goods, raw materials
2 10% Inputs and semi-finished products
3 20% Final consumption goods and other products

Permanent customs duty and taxes also include:

• Statistical fee: 1 percent of CIF value on goods except goods in warehouses, on duty free entry for re-export, in transit, donations and goods exonerated by international agreements.
• Community levy of solidarity, “PCS”, applies to all imports (except those from WAEMU countries) at a single rate of 1 percent. In some cases, goods are exonerated from “PCS”.
• ECOWAS community levy: 0.5 percent of the CIF value
• Special taxes on fish, rice, alcohol, tobacco and cigarettes, and oil products.
• VAT collected by customs office based on the single rate of 18 percent (applicable since the finance law of 2003). The tax computation includes the CIF value added to the entry duty and the statistical fee.

B. Temporary and Sliding Taxes

The seasonal, or temporary, import tax called “Taxe conjoncturelle à l’importation” protects local production of vegetables, rice, onion, potatoes when world prices drop and threaten local producers.

The sliding tax varies from 2.5 percent to 5 percent depending on the product category. It applies to imports of selected finished products such as matches, tomato paste, candies, and powdered milk that compete with local production.

Trade Barriers

Traditional barriers to U.S. exports and investment include:

• Lack of U.S. interest due to the relatively small market size and stronger attraction of other overseas markets; limited data; and perceived French and European domination of the market due to French-based legal, commercial, and financial systems.
• Primary use of French language, business practices, and technical standards. However, some Ivoirian businesses trying to overcome the language barrier and work directly with U.S. companies.
• Cost of producing product packaging for the Francophone region.
• Higher freight rates and longer transit times from the United States than from Europe.
• More favorable credit terms by European suppliers to local importers.
• High business costs relative to neighboring African countries such as water, electricity, labor costs, port processing and customs duties.
• Uncertain legal protection due to a weak judiciary.
• Corruption.
• Limited and costly financing resources for U.S. exporters and Ivoirian buyers.
• Limited Ivoirian purchasing power.

Nevertheless, some of these barriers are changing. For example freight rates and transit times from the United States have decreased significantly due to direct service.

Import Requirements and Documentation

There are no import policies against U.S. companies. However, textile imports are subject to government authorization. For imports higher than USD 1,000 (approximately CFAF 500,000), the importer must establish an anticipated import declaration “DAI” in the computerized system of customs clearance. The importer must collect it through the custom broker or the inspection company concerned by the shipment, COTECNA or BVCI.

Both import and export are subject to the acquisition of a registration number at the Department of Promotion of External Trade. Concerning the importer registration, the importer must show evidences of his/her registration to the trade register, the tax registration office as well as his/her fiscal status. However, the imports of cotton and 100 percent cotton made products such as the "Wax and Basin" style of textile clothes request an import license from the Department of Promotion of External Trade.

Documents for most goods shipped into Côte d’Ivoire include:

Commercial Invoice: Freight and two copies in French are required. There is no required form to be used, but all invoices must contain the names of the exporter and consignee, number and types of packages, marks and numbers on the packages, net and gross weights, C.I.F. value, terms of sale, and a thorough description of the merchandise. Note that the importer will usually need a signed "duplicate" invoice to speed the release of the imported goods from customs. This should be sent via air courier and arrive in Côte d'Ivoire prior to the arrival of the merchandise.

Certificate of Origin: Two certified copies are required.

Packing List: Packing list is not legally required but such lists are usually considered essential in accelerating the time required for customs clearance.

Bill of Lading (or air waybill): There are no regulations specifying content of a bill of lading. Importers should include clear marks of identification and the name and address of the consignee of the goods. It is important to ensure that shipping marks and numbers on bills of lading/ invoices, on the goods should correspond exactly.

Pro-forma Invoice: Persons wishing to import goods are required to attach six copies of this invoice to the application for an import license and/or the intent to import. A pro-forma invoice may also be required when presenting an application to Ivoirian authorities to ship bonded goods through the country.

Bureau Veritas Inspection Certificate: Issued by the inspecting Bureau Veritas office at the point of origin and delivered to the importer in Abidjan.

U.S. Export Controls

Export Licenses are required for any goods for which export is restricted. Export licenses are valid for six months and are prepared in quadruplicate. Except for coffee and cocoa, whose licenses are issued by the Autorité de Regulation du Café et du Cacao (ARCC), all export licenses are delivered by the Ministry of Commerce. In line with the government of Côte d’Ivoire's decision to liberalize cocoa and coffee exports in October 1998, ARCC established a one-stop-shop for the exportation of coffee and cocoa with the aim of facilitating and accelerating administrative procedures. It is also meant to produce uniform export statistics by the different administrative sectors and to ensure efficient and accurate statistical collection of export receipts.

Temporary Entry

A new or a temporary business may apply to the Ministry of Commerce and Industry for “Admission Temporaire”, or temporary entry, of their goods. The Ministry can also attribute this status for goods that will be re-exported to other countries if a bonded warehouse is not used. New investments may also apply for a priority agreement. Both are granted on a case-by-case basis.

Temporary admission of goods: This is applied for goods that need to be processed or complementary labor that will be re-exported. This is subject to the prior authorization of the customs office and requires a deposit.

Exceptional or occasional temporary admission: This includes repair, exhibitions, fairs, and testing

Temporary admission of company material: This admission implies a partial custom taxation of the materials

Many business travelers bring laptop computers into the country without difficulty. Traveling with desktop computers or other electronic equipment may pose a problem if the equipment is new or the quantity is such that it may be suspected as being brought into the country for resale. Business travelers should be prepared to demonstrate the business purpose of the equipment, and may want to consider requesting temporary entry permission for expensive equipment.

Labeling and Marking Requirements

In addition to the requirements described under import/export documentation, all packages containing U.S. produced merchandise must be clearly labeled “MADE IN THE U.S.A.” or they will not be allowed to enter the country.

For high-tech equipment, (e.g. telecommunications equipment, photocopiers, computer hardware and software) French-language keyboards, symbols, instruction manuals, operating systems and applications software are critical to the success of a product. Do not assume the user is a native English speaker. The equipment must be adapted to run as specified by European electrical and metric standards.

Consumer product labels, generally, must be in French for a product to be of interest to importers and consumers. Manufactured food products must be labeled in French and must have an expiration date. Health officials will often interpret the date of manufacture as an expiration date, if one does not appear on the label, and deny entry to the product. Therefore, it is best to include both dates.

Prohibited and Restricted Imports

The Ivoirian government has liberalized the importation of goods and services. There are no quotas and importers do not need prior authorization. Only textile products are subject to a few authorization requirements by the Department of External Trade. Import licenses are no longer required for most products, however an anticipated import declaration “DAI” must be registered. Products that still require authorization are petroleum products, and livestock and animal products (including hides and skins), which are subject to prior authorization from the Ministries of Mining and Energy and Agriculture.

Customs Regulations and Contact Information

There are no restrictions on imports and exports.

Payment of Custom duty:
The payment of duty and tax cannot exceed 20 days. Interest is added in cases of delay of payment.

Custom clearance:
The average time of customs clearance depends on the type of import. For the green circuit (traditional circuit) the clearance time varies from 10 minutes to 24-48 hours. For the red circuit (products that require additional inspection), the clearance lasts about 1 week. The white circuit provides a quicker custom clearance but this is granted to businesses that have good professional and custom records.

Contact information:
Direction Generale des Douanes
BP V 25 Abidjan
Tel: (225) 20228553
Fax: (225) 20321070

Standards

Overview

The national standard and certification agency, Cote d’Ivoire Normalisation (CODINORM), is a non-profit body created in September 1992 by the private sector with the government of Cote d'Ivoire's authorization. Codinorm provides standards for business development, risk prevention and the preservation of health and security, fair commercial transactions and consumer protection.

Standards Organizations

CODINORM mandated two companies, the affiliated French group Bureau Veritas Cote d’Ivoire (BVCI), and the Swiss firm, COTECNA Inspection Ltd, to undertake all qualitative and quantitative checks for goods shipped to the Ivorian custom territory.

Conformity Assessment

Bureau Veritas handles the import inspection duties in Côte d'Ivoire for general merchandise. COTECNA Inspection Ltd performs services related to temporary importation, and exportation of petroleum products and forestry products.

All goods entering Côte d’Ivoire with an FOB value in excess of USD 3,000 or CFAF 1.5 million (1 USD equals approximately CFAF 500) must be inspected by the inspection company at the point of origin to ensure that invoice valuation is consistent with the goods actually shipped. An inspection certificate is then used as the basis for customs valuation. Exporters should note that the inspection process is triggered by the local (Ivoirian) importer when he/she files a declaration of intent to import, also known as a DAI (Declaration Anticipee d’Importation).

The fee charged by BVCI for inspection services is 0.75 percent of the FOB value of the merchandise to supply on the market. COTECNA receives 1.05 percent of the FOB value of merchandises, 0.8 percent for oil and 1 percent for woods before export.

Since June 2, 2003, a certificate of conformity for the supply of some products is required. For foreign exporters, the Center of Export Relations of the Bureau Veritas group is responsible for issuing the certificate of conformity. For local companies, Bureau Veritas issues a certificate of product compliance during its bi-quarterly inspections. All exporters to Cote d’Ivoire must have a certificate of conformity for the purpose of custom clearance.

Product Certification

CODINORM requires that all products made in Cote d’Ivoire prior to being on the market must show their proof of compliance. Specifically, NI labeling, “Norme Ivorienne”, or a certificate of compliance delivered by a certification product body accredited on the basis of international standard such as ISO/CEI 65 OR EN 45011. Several companies have undertaken to become certified ISO/9000.

There are 80 products that fall into these categories: including home equipment, packaging, chemical products, construction material, food products, oil products, fluid products and component of general use, security material, environment, health, health technologies, electrical appliances.

For further information, please contact:
Bureau Veritas Cote d’Ivoire Conformite
01 BP 1453 Abidjan 01
telephone:225 20211570/20312500
Fax:225 20227715
Bureau Veritas

Accreditation

CODINORM accredits testing laboratories authorized to operate in Cote d’Ivoire.

Publication of Technical Regulations

CODINORM grants approval for and disseminates GOCI information on standards. Its contact information is:

Cote d’Ivoire Normalisation
01 BP 1872 Abidjan 01
Tel: 225 20 21 55 12
Fax: 225 20 21 25 60

Labeling and Marking

In addition to the requirements described under the import/export documentation section, all packages containing U.S. produced merchandise must be clearly labeled “MADE IN THE U.S.A.” or they will not be allowed to enter the country.

Consumer product labels, generally, must be in French for a product to be of interest to importers and consumers. Manufactured food products must be labeled in French and must have an expiration date. Health officials will often interpret the date of manufacture as an expiration date, if one does not appear on the label, and deny entry to the product. Therefore, it is best to include both dates.

Trade Agreements

Cote d’Ivoire is member of the:

• Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS): which groups both Anglophone and Francophone states of the region.
• West African Economic and Monetary Union (WAEMU): includes the following member countries: Côte d’Ivoire, Senegal, Mali, Togo, Benin, Niger, Guinea-Bissau, and Burkina-Faso. Under this treaty, Côte d’Ivoire has undertaken to coordinate its economic, financial, and structural policies with those of its Francophone partners in the region.
• Cotonou Convention: a trade and aid agreement between the European Union and 46 of Europe's former colonies and dependencies in African, the Caribbean and the Pacific.
• OHADA (Organization pour l'Harmonization en Afrique du Droit des Affaires): an organization that harmonizes a broad range of legal systems which previously were widely disparate in their approach to business law, codes, rules, regulations and local conventions affecting business. The agreement creates a number of uniform acts and sets up organizations when necessary to implement the acts.

Effective January 2005, Cote d’Ivoire was withdrawn from the list of countries eligible for benefits under the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA).

Web Resources

• Economic Community of West African States
• West African Economic and Monetary Union (in French)
• USAID West Africa Regional Program(WARP)
• Office of the United States Trade Representative
• Bureau Veritas Cote d’Ivoire Conformite in French)
• OHADA (in French).